For most of my life, I was a swimmer. Every single day, I swam for three plus hours, while still having to manage both school work and the attempt to have a social life. Through many restless school days and endless days of not being to handle everything, I learned life skills that are going to last me the rest of my life. The difficulties that I overcame and the mental boot camp I went through has prepared me well for not only college, but life beyond college. At the age of seven, I began to swim, however this was only in the summer and didn’t make too much of an indent on my social or academic life. By the time I was ten years old, I began to swim year round, at a rather competitive program that required me to swim six times a week for two hours each day. I struggled to find the motivation to complete tasks such as those at such a young age, and absolutely hated going to practice; however, I was good at swimming, so I decided it was just better to stick at something I was good at rather than do something where I had no talents. When I turned twelve, my family and I moved to New York and with my new team, I had an entirely different outlook on swimming and sudden motivation to be the best that I could possibly become. Through getting to know my new team and coaches, I pushed myself harder and harder in the pool, I knew what my goals were, and I was willing to do just about anything to achieve those goals. I never gave up, and eventually I reached those goals. I also learned how to be a leader and good teammate and friend during this process. By my junior year, I was captain of my varsity team and continued to be captain through my senior year. However, with great success comes great failure, and I had to learn how to mentally and physically make it through rough patches. I can not lie, a lot of the times the pressure to once again become the great swimmer I was while still maintaining a 4.0 GPA in high school was not an easy accomplishment. But because of the skills swimming had taught me, I knew that I was a strong person and could do anything that I had put my mind to. Throughout all of my experiences as a swimmer, I’d have to say by far the most inspiring one was when I went through countless injuries and failures and refused to let that stop me. At some point, eventually, everyone has to move on from swimming and find something else in their lives that they want to succeed in, but I knew that for me, swimming had not yet come to a close. There was more left out there for me to achieve and I was willing to do whatever it took to find those things. Everything I have been through in this sport has also helped me in the classroom. Most nights I found myself getting less than 5 hours of sleep due to homework and having to wake up at the crack of dawn to swim, but I knew that if I was going to be successful in life, I couldn’t let swimming be my only priority. Spending long hours alone, studying and frantically trying to complete various assignments, I became a very determined person. Grades were always important to me, and like swimming, I knew that if I wanted to have high grades, I was going to have to work hard for them, so I never gave up and always gave schoolwork and tests everything that I had; I never let anything get in my way. I am thankful that I had such a difficult sport in my life to teach me all of these valuable lessons and I hope that I will be able to use these lessons and skills in my life as I grow older and find new obstacles to conquer. I say with pride that I honestly do not think I would be half the student I am today without swimming in my life, or without my parents. The endless support and encouragement given to me by my parents has allowed me to put myself out there and reach for goals that may seem unattainable; they taught me that no dream is too big and you can do anything you put your mind to. Growing up as the oldest sibling, I was always very independent and often played a "parent" role to my younger brother, Ryan, and my little sister, Olivia. I shared with them all the faith that I was given and I push them to be their best and support them along the way. My family is one of the biggest reasons I am so successful in school, and each day they inspire me to be the best version of myself possible; I want to be a good role model for my brother and sister. Having a sister in elementary school helped me to find my desire to become and elementary school teacher. Always helping her with her projects, I grew to really enjoy the way her mind thought and I loved to answer all of her innocent questions, I want to allow children's learning to soar, and so I will continue to work hard so I can make that dream a reality.
At the age of seven, I began to swim, however this was only in the summer and didn’t make too much of an indent on my social or academic life. By the time I was ten years old, I began to swim year round, at a rather competitive program that required me to swim six times a week for two hours each day. I struggled to find the motivation to complete tasks such as those at such a young age, and absolutely hated going to practice; however, I was good at swimming, so I decided it was just better to stick at something I was good at rather than do something where I had no talents. When I turned twelve, my family and I moved to New York and with my new team, I had an entirely different outlook on swimming and sudden motivation to be the best that I could possibly become.
Through getting to know my new team and coaches, I pushed myself harder and harder in the pool, I knew what my goals were, and I was willing to do just about anything to achieve those goals. I never gave up, and eventually I reached those goals. I also learned how to be a leader and good teammate and friend during this process. By my junior year, I was captain of my varsity team and continued to be captain through my senior year.
However, with great success comes great failure, and I had to learn how to mentally and physically make it through rough patches. I can not lie, a lot of the times the pressure to once again become the great swimmer I was while still maintaining a 4.0 GPA in high school was not an easy accomplishment. But because of the skills swimming had taught me, I knew that I was a strong person and could do anything that I had put my mind to.
Throughout all of my experiences as a swimmer, I’d have to say by far the most inspiring one was when I went through countless injuries and failures and refused to let that stop me. At some point, eventually, everyone has to move on from swimming and find something else in their lives that they want to succeed in, but I knew that for me, swimming had not yet come to a close. There was more left out there for me to achieve and I was willing to do whatever it took to find those things. Everything I have been through in this sport has also helped me in the classroom.
Most nights I found myself getting less than 5 hours of sleep due to homework and having to wake up at the crack of dawn to swim, but I knew that if I was going to be successful in life, I couldn’t let swimming be my only priority. Spending long hours alone, studying and frantically trying to complete various assignments, I became a very determined person. Grades were always important to me, and like swimming, I knew that if I wanted to have high grades, I was going to have to work hard for them, so I never gave up and always gave schoolwork and tests everything that I had; I never let anything get in my way.
I am thankful that I had such a difficult sport in my life to teach me all of these valuable lessons and I hope that I will be able to use these lessons and skills in my life as I grow older and find new obstacles to conquer. I say with pride that I honestly do not think I would be half the student I am today without swimming in my life, or without my parents.
The endless support and encouragement given to me by my parents has allowed me to put myself out there and reach for goals that may seem unattainable; they taught me that no dream is too big and you can do anything you put your mind to. Growing up as the oldest sibling, I was always very independent and often played a "parent" role to my younger brother, Ryan, and my little sister, Olivia. I shared with them all the faith that I was given and I push them to be their best and support them along the way. My family is one of the biggest reasons I am so successful in school, and each day they inspire me to be the best version of myself possible; I want to be a good role model for my brother and sister.
Having a sister in elementary school helped me to find my desire to become and elementary school teacher. Always helping her with her projects, I grew to really enjoy the way her mind thought and I loved to answer all of her innocent questions, I want to allow children's learning to soar, and so I will continue to work hard so I can make that dream a reality.